Los Angeles Lakers: Top 30 greatest players of all-time

• 7 seasons with Lakers (1997-2003)
• Averaged 6.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game
• 3x NBA champion with Lakers

If Rick Fox was an important role player during the 1999-2002 Lakers mini-dynasty, than Robert Horry was the most vital role player of them all.

Surprisingly, Horry never managed to average double-digits in his seven seasons in Los Angeles, with his high mark the 9.2 points per game he averaged in 20 contest after arriving via trade from Phoenix midway through the 1996-97 season. He started 71 of 72 games the following season,  logging 30.4 minutes per game but only scoring 7.4 points per contest.

Horry’s Lakers’ low when it came to minutes played was the 19.6 he averaged in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 campaign. Outside of that, he always was a heavy minutes-getter, whether in the starting lineup or coming off the bench.

Horry earned the Big Shot Bob nickname for a series of clutch shots in the playoffs — so much so that “Notable playoff clutch plays” is its own section on Horry’s Wikipedia page.

And here’s a compilation for your enjoyment:

Indeed, Horry was clutch before, during, and after his Lakers years. But his most famous shot was the game-winner over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.

Horry joined the Spurs after seven years in a Lakers jersey, winning two more titles over his five seasons in San Antonio. He’d won two with Houston prior to joining L.A., so that’s a grand total of seven rings in 17 seasons.

Not too bad for a role player.